best website ever. unicorns and rainbows.

by: los anjalis

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 13:03:25 PM PDT

Say no more: http://didtheypasshealthcarereform.com/

Sure it's perhaps a bit too elated, but the website energy and design (and the fact that it went live almost immediately after the health insurance reform bill was signed by President Obama) get a big YAY.

Plus, here at Cure This, we like unicorns.

"Something I've heard about Canada..."

by: los anjalis

Sun Mar 07, 2010 at 10:00:00 AM PST

"Something I've heard about Canada (correct me if i'm wrong) is that u have a Canadian style healthcare system."

This was Stephen Colbert speaking to Member of Parliament (MP) of Vancouver South, Ujjal Dosanjh.  Hee-haw larious.  The rest of the interview can be found here (of note, the interview sounds pretty hostile but it's true to Colbert's satirical approach.

Not knowing anything about this liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, I explored his website, where he defends his interview with Colbert, as satire to reflect on.  But that's also where I found out that Dosanjh was previous the federal Minister of Health for two years.  He's a well-informed, outspoken advocate of the Canadian healthcare system, and recently was interviewed by NPR about it. He speaks from a human rights framework.  I'll share the interview below because it's interesting...

a bizarre process & a historic vote: healthcare reform

by: los anjalis

Mon Dec 21, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PST

So what exactly happened?  Well, the US Senate voted 60-40 NOT in favor of PASSING the bill -- but in favor of ending debate and stopping further filibustering on a specific set of amendments put forth by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.  Yes, they voted for "cloture" -- to end debate on the bill.  Were the debate to continue, Republicans (or Sen Lieberman or Nelson) would have more and more chances at filibustering the bill (a process by which they are allowed to read every page of the phone book aloud or do other things a 2nd grader wouldn't even do, in order to stall the process of moving a bill forward)...  

public option ping pong. lieberman intercepts.

by: los anjalis

Wed Oct 28, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

As always, a pleasure to see both of these brilliant women talk this out.  And yes...

How to explain the public option for healthcare reform, reprise

by: los anjalis

Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT

Share this with friends and family, if folks still have questions about the public option.

Two weeks ago we posted a piece here at Cure This -- How to Explain the Public Option for Healthcare reform. Really -- featuring Chris Hayes, DC editor at The Nation magazine, discussing the public option.  That post was the top search result on Google for "public option explanation" for quite a few days.  Clearly, Americans are looking for ways to better comprehend the proposed public option and other pieces of the larger healthcare reform discussion.  The number of hits on that search declined in the two to three days after President Obama's speech on healthcare reform last week.  Perhaps his description of the public option, among other pieces of his proposal, answered many Americans' questions.

On President Obama's historic address and healthcare reform

by: los anjalis

Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

A television station crew was present at Senator Feldman's house, to capture our thoughts after the speech.  There was a resounding sense of support for Obama's speech and for his healthcare proposals (including unanimous support for the public option piece).

Now, the speech was nothing less than historic on several levels...  

The next rip-off of the American so called "insured"

by: pattyc

Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 11:30:53 AM PST

A few days later I received a telephone call from my doctor's office advising me that my insurer had contacted them, telling them to call me to schedule an appointment to have my cholesterol tested.  I told my doctor's receptionist that unless the insurance company could guarantee that I wouldn't receive any bills after the testing, I'd be dead or dying before setting foot in their office again.  She then asked me if I was taking any meds.  No, I don't. (I haven't trusted big pharma since they started advertising directly to the people.  I'm a monitor your diet, eat organically and, if I need help, go the herbal route kind of gal.)

Not liking the feel of this at all, I decided to complain directly to the insurance company.  For some reason I was directed to the 24 hour nurse hotline.  She said she could take my complaint and during the process divulged a little info of her own.  This particular nurse received a letter from the insurance company (same as mine) declaring that she was in "non-compliance" because she has not been ordering her heart medicine through them.  Why should she?  She's found them cheaper somewhere else.  "Non-compliance?"  Is your skin crawling?  Does it sound like the vampires are tapping at the window?

Gaza, through the lens of human rights and healthcare violations

by: los anjalis

Sat Jan 17, 2009 at 16:49:39 PM PST

This is the 2nd of several posts about the direct healthcare and human rights consequences of the conflict.  Videos and interviews with doctors and medical staff in the region will be shared in the upcoming posts, as well as information on legal/illegal uses of chemical and other weapons.  The point is to document and to discuss.  I implore users to discuss this constructively, without personal attacks.

On January 5th, just a few days into the conflict (it continues still today), a Norwegian doctor who arrived in Palestine on New Years Eve discusses his experiences in the hospital he's volunteering in:

"it's like hell here now, and there's been bombing all night, close to 500 people have been killed, and the number of casualties... of which 50 percent are women and children.
"We have been doing surgery around the clock. i just talked to one of my colleagues in the ICU who has not been sleeping for 3 days.  the hospital is overcrowded, we have 6-7 operating rooms and there are injuries you just don't want to see in this world. children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off. and the only crime they have done is being civilians, palestinians, living in gaza."

"to be honest we came on new years eve in the morning. i've seen one military person.  there are hundreds of civilians that we have seen and treated.

this is an all out war against the civilian palestinian population in gaza... you have to remember that the average age fo the gaza inhabitants is 17 years, it's a very young population, and 80 percent are living below the poverty level set by the UN.

they are able to escape absolutely nowhere. they cannot flee like other populations can in wartime because they are locked in, in a cage. so they are bombing one and a half million people in a cage. you cannot separate between the military and civilian population."

On Sweden's move to a two-tiered health care system

by: los anjalis

Fri Dec 12, 2008 at 20:07:29 PM PST

AMY GOODMAN: I've been very interested in the social welfare system here, as the United States deals with greater unemployment, the crisis of healthcare. You have a social welfare system where healthcare is free in Sweden. And yet, you're seeing increasingly private hospitals and private insurance?

BRIAN PALMER: Yeah, many small changes to, in some way, make it harder for the general welfare state to function-for example, creating-allowing the creation of a private children's hospital in Stockholm only for paying customers and people with-

AMY GOODMAN: "Paying," as opposed to "pain," customers?

BRIAN PALMER: "Paying," yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: Paying customers in pain.

BRIAN PALMER: Indeed, who will pay the full cost of their children's care, or people who have private insurance to do that. What this will do is start to create this kind of thing, will start to create groups of middle-class people who no longer have such a stake in the general welfare system, because they feel, well, I'm buying it anyway privately, and that will gradually erode middle-class support for the general welfare system that up to now has had very high levels of support from the middle class.

AMY GOODMAN: And what about the health insurance companies that are coming in?

BRIAN PALMER: They are very, very eager for this business. And it's a tremendous irony that, just at a moment when Americans, some of them discussing Michael Moore's film Sicko, see the very unethical behavior of different kinds of health insurance and health management companies, many of those same companies are getting the opportunity to buy pieces of Swedish healthcare clinics, parts of hospitals-according to a new law, even entire university hospitals can be sold out to private companies-so that as Americans have mostly become skeptical of these companies, they're being invited to Sweden to do damage here.

First of all, a great summary of the argument against a two-tiered health care financing system (a public system and a private system).

Second, right after Amy Goodman made the whole "paying as in opposed to pain customers?" remark, she actually laughed!  It's nice to hear her laugh, she's so strictly professional that she doesn't show much emotion.

As the banks go, so shall our healthcare?

by: los anjalis

Sat Sep 20, 2008 at 01:10:12 AM PDT

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain's article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American, in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.

Here's what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:

   Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

How telling.

earth moves slowly beneath us as we wait

by: ms_noemi

Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 11:50:25 AM PDT

Sit, wait.
Man snores.
Check email on phone.
Check email on phone.
Read Terabithia
Read Norma Cantu.
Sit, wait.
Check email on phone.
Return email to Lina,
Re: location of panteon.
Sit, wait, clouds form.
Looks like rain.

Read Emmy's poems.
Envious, lovely forms.
Man snores.
Check email on phone.

Quiet coughing spell
with cough drops
gifted by my mom
before she left us,
left the valley for
colder seasons.
Snow, trees.

Consider leaving.
Have already paid
$25 upfront.
Entered a payment plan
for enormous balance
of allergy tests
insurance didn't cover.
Who knew?
Sit, Wait.

"¿Tiene cita, Señora?"
"¿Que doctor quiere ver?"
"¿Tiene seguro?"

Additional parking
in rear.
laugh at joke.

2 t.v.'s on.
one is english soap opera
with volume turned down.
other is spanish
morning today style show
turned up
we are glued.

Wait.
Man is called.
Lunch hour is over.
Doctors return.
Think twice
about being here.
I've already paid.

Finish chapbook.
Check email on phone.
Check email on phone.
Text sister,
babysit on Friday?

Will tell Dr.
of insurance change.
So MRI's and cat scans
and sleep studies a go.
at affordable prices
with payment plans.

hope she doesn't
get mad
i haven't done
them yet.

wait,sit,wait.
Man with cane shuffles in.
A señora, with another señora
walk in.
"aquí traigo a mi comadre
Ya no ve"

Check email on phone.
think of music.
think of poems.
think of poems
in text form.
think of devils
and twenty dollar bills.

Check email on phone.
Sip water,
parched painful.
they call my name.
nurse says
"dr says she knows
whats wrong with you
again."
so predictable, I am.
yes, on throat, yes
on sinuses.
Nurse hands me
allergy results,
he says
no more mangoes
no more bananas
he says
start eating meat again.
he doesn't know
my heart is
allergic to eating blood
(yes, trauma dramatic
induced by 100.1 fever)
dr. meki walks in
touches my knee
sorry to be late.

i tell her of exams
she says its pap smear
time, save myself-
i'm bleeding.
RX for throat, nose, head.
I Think she likes me
maybe one day
I'll tell her everything

You wanna see rational and efficient? I'll show you rational and efficient

by: los anjalis

Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 23:11:43 PM PDT

Some state officials have said that New Jersey needs this period of consolidation -- that there were too many hospitals, and that some needed to close to make the system more rational and efficient.

But many of the closing hospitals have been in urban areas and towns with large concentrations of minority and poor residents. Two hospitals in Newark -- St. James and Columbus Hospital -- closed this year, angering local officials. Mayor Cory Booker (D) said he was "angry and anguished and frustrated" by the closings.

"The hospitals that close are generally in urban areas with minority people living there, and they don't count politically," said the Rev. James Colvin, who has also been active in trying to save Muhlenberg or find a new buyer.

"From a 'survival of the fittest' standpoint, it makes sense. We're saying it smacks of the final solution for urban centers. Someone else called it 'genocide lite.' "

I'd like to have a friendly conversation with some of those state officials who seem to think this is a "rational and efficient" way to consolidate health care resources.  Friendly.  Just sayin'.

how they roll in other countries: germany and healthcare

by: los anjalis

Wed Jul 02, 2008 at 21:25:07 PM PDT

Those of us who live in America know next to nothing about how other countries' health care systems operate. Not because we're stupid or ignorant, I'd like to think, but because we are not allowed opportunities through our mainstream media to learn about other countries, so myths created easily perpetuate.  Many of us turn to alternative sources of media or the internet (or both), but still, there's generally so much policy jargon to sift through.  THIS is partly why Michael Moore's documentary Sicko left so many in the American public stunned regarding the various types of health access and services that citizens of other nations receive.

NPR did a piece today on Germany's health care system, a system which by the way has existed for over 125 years. For some jaw-dropping action, read the whole article, it's not that long.  What really struck out for me was a fundamental difference in the set of values we hold above all else, in both countries.  What we tolerate or praise here would not be tolerated there.  What we struggle with here in regards to access to healthcare, bankruptcy from medical bills, huge deductibles, time to see docs, are a non-issue there.  Obviously there are problems in every system.  Here's a glimpse, though, of some of the virtues of the German system we're not exposed to in most of our media sources. Some quotable quotes:

Germany on access to doctors at times of need:

On one particular night, Juergen was the doctor on call for the region. Any German who needs after-hours care can call a central number and get connected to a doctor.

On access to humane and intuitive support services after an operation, as told by a woman who had thyroid surgery:

"Then I came home to my little daughter, who I couldn't really lift up because of my neck having been cut open," Sabina says. "So I asked my doctor, 'What can I do?' And she said, 'Well, your health insurance will pay for someone to come help you in the house.'"

They also pay for support services and money to families who want to keep their elderly parents at home and out of nursing homes.  Again, a fundamentally different set of values.

On coverage for everyone:

The health care system... is not funded by government taxes. But it is compulsory. All German workers pay about 8 percent of their gross income to a nonprofit insurance company called a sickness fund.

On SOLIDARITY:

Basing premiums on a percentage-of-salary means that the less people make, the less they have to pay. The more money they make, the more they pay. This principle is at the heart of the system. Germans call it "solidarity." The idea is that everybody's in it together, and nobody should be without health insurance.

This one really got me.  I dream of the day (it is possible!) when Americans routinely use the word solidarity.

On the cost to employers:

The big difference is that U.S. employers pay far more, on average, than German employers do - 18 percent of each employee's gross income versus around 8 percent in Germany.

On humanity (FUCK DEDUCTIBLES!)

Moreover, German health insurance has more generous benefits than U.S. policies cover. There are never any deductibles, for instance, before coverage kicks in. And all Germans get the same coverage.

After mentioning they would NEVER move to America STRICTLY because of health care costs for their chronic problems, a couple also notes the embarassing statistic about bankruptcy due to medical costs in America.  On DIGNITY:

"It's also the No. 1 reason in the United States that people personally go bankrupt," Sabina translates, "which would never happen here ... never!"

On family coverage:

Nicole pays a premium of $270 a month for insurance that covers her children, too. Nicole pays a single $15 copayment once every three months to see her primary-care doctor - and another $15 a quarter to see each specialist, as often as she wants. She pays no copayments for her children's care --and her insurance even covers her daughter's orthodontia bill.

If you're self-employed you have to buy insurance from a private for-profit company (not the non-profit sickness funds).  This is also an option if you make more than a certain amount a year.  Interestingly...

But most people don't opt out. Chris says that's because there's a fundamental difference in the way Germans view health care and the government's role - which, in Germany, means refereeing the system and making sure it's fair and affordable.

The German govt regulates the insurance companies, or in better terms, holds them accountable to a basic set of guidelines:

So Chris' insurer can't raise his rates if he gets sick or jack up his premiums too much as he gets older. The government also requires insurers to keep costs down so things don't get too expensive.

And again, on SOLIDARITY:

Germans really hate any hint of unfairness in health care. The fundamental idea is that everybody must be covered and, preferably, everybody should get equal treatment. So the fact that 10 percent or so can buy some perks is an irritant - something Germans complain about but manage to put up with.

I noted that the article didn't mention anything about the uninsured in Germany (those who are not employed or are not self-employed, or who are self-employed but cannot afford the monthly premium).  And then I realized that NPR had done a piece on the uninsured in Germany.  0.2 of the population there is uninsured, there are only 8 free clinics in the country, and that's changing for the better as a new law was passed that would allow for the uninsured to be covered.  Picking up my jaw again from the floor.

ALSO check out the interactive international health care comparison chart at the NPR site -- you can do head to head comparisons of US vs Germany, Britain vs Germany, Switzerland vs Japan, and other such permutations.  It's pretty interesting.

Thoughts on all of this?  Let's roll with this knowledge, this new perspective, and dream of what can be. Cmon, pick your jaw up already!

The McCain Clinic. YouTube & Health in the 2008 US Elections

by: los anjalis

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 21:58:58 PM PDT

Check out these three videos from the infamous Brave New Films group.  These videos and others are from The Real McCain website, put together by the folks at Brave New Films.  What do you think?  Effective?  Interesting?  Boring?  Scary?  Yawn?  Share your thoughts.

YOYO v WITT : McCain v Obama in Song with Poll

by: nightowl724

Sun Jun 01, 2008 at 07:00:24 AM PDT

You're on Your Own (YOYO)
(sung by McCain to the tune of To Each His Own)

So, to those who disdain and won't vote for McCain:
BushCo's lovely promise has come true.
You're on your own.  You're on your own.
And, we now own you.

We're in This Together (WITT)
(sung by Obama to the tune of So Happy Together)

Imagine me and you.  I do.
We'll stick together day and night.  It's only right,
To care about the world we love, yo use our might.
We're in this together.

Complete songs below the fold...

Healthcare: Got No Heart (Young at Heart movie/song parody)

by: nightowl724

Fri May 30, 2008 at 22:18:58 PM PDT

I created a contemporary version of this story. The Tones, a musician and a housewife, have no health insurance. Barney and Laurie are wildly happy until Barney is in a terrible car accident. He almost dies because the hospital demands cash before treating him. He survives, but the Tones lose everything. In a bad economy, they must work as live-ins for room and board and get second jobs to pay the medical bills. Barney becomes a bar entertainer and Laurie becomes a prostitute.

Scary tales can come true. It can happen to you,
'Cuz they've got no heart.

Oh no! Things don't look good for Old Blue Eyes and Clara Bixby...

Senate Bill introduced this week -- for Basic Health Care at Immigration Detention Centers

by: los anjalis

Wed May 14, 2008 at 00:31:25 AM PDT

EXAMPLES OF DETAINEES WHO HAVE DIED DUE TO LACK OF BASIC MEDICAL CARE:

· Failure to provide basic medical care: While in detention, 52-year-old Boubacar Bah fractured his head during a fall and started behaving erratically. On-site medical staff assumed Boubacar was acting out and shackled him to the floor as he moaned and vomited. He was then put in solitary confinement, where he lay untreated for more than 13 hours, despite repeated notations by staff that he was unresponsive and foaming at the mouth. Finally, he was sent to the hospital, where he underwent surgery for multiple brain hemorrhages. After 4 months in a coma, he died.

· Overruling of on-site medical staff decisions: In detention, 35-year-old Francisco Castaneda sought medical care for lesions on his penis. On-site medical staff repeatedly ordered biopsies, but the biopsies were denied by off-site officials. After 11 months in custody, ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] released Francisco so he could pay for his own biopsy, which revealed cancerous tumors. Despite penile amputation and several rounds of chemotherapy, he died at the age of 36. A federal judge recently noted that this case appears to present "one of the most, if not the most, egregious Eighth Amendment violations [cruel and unusual punishment] the Court has ever encountered."

· Denial of life-saving medication: Upon detaining 23-year-old Victoria Arellano, ICE denied her the antibiotics she was taking to fend off infections caused by her HIV-positive status. Her health quickly deteriorated, marked by high fevers, severe cramps, and internal bleeding. As she neared death, ICE put her back on antibiotic treatment, but of the wrong type. Victoria received no other medical treatment and died under ICE's watch-just two months after first being detained.

· Senseless detention of vulnerable people: Although he had a valid visa, 81-year-old Haitian Reverend Joseph Dantica was detained by ICE because he mentioned his need for "temporary" asylum upon arrival. ICE detained him even though he was 81, had serious medical conditions, and had previously traveled to the U.S. many times without overstaying his visa. ICE stripped the reverend, despite repeated pleas, of the medication he was taking for his high blood pressure and inflamed prostate. Within days, he became ill and started vomiting, but ICE officials assumed he was faking and refused to treat him. When his condition worsened, he was taken to a local hospital where he was not seen by a doctor for another 24 hours. He died soon thereafter.

Is this America?

Well, yesterday (May 12, 2008), NJ Senator Robert Menendez (and the other co-sponsors) introduced legislation in the US Senate to create a set of standards (and accountability) for basic medical care at immigration detention centers.  It's definitely long overdue, and it still seems VERY absurd that a law would have to be introduced to meet these basic human needs, in the US.  

Here's the rest of the press release from Senator Robert Menendez's office (5/12/2008):

NEW SENATE LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TODAY (5/12/2008)

Menendez's Detainee Basic Medical Care Act responds to reports on the lack of basic care and oversight that has lead to preventable deaths

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today introduced the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act in response to recent news reports and lawsuits that have exposed seemingly systematic problems in the medical care provided at U.S. immigration detention centers. These reports and lawsuits demonstrate that detainees have in some cases died due to the poor quality or lack of medical care. Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) are original co-sponsors of the legislation, which among other provisions would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish procedures for the timely and effective delivery of basic health care to all immigration detainees in custody and would require DHS to report all detainee deaths to the Office of Inspector General and Congress. The Senate bill is a companion to Rep. Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) H.R. 5950 in the House of Representatives.

Senator Menendez said: "We can never lose sight of the fact that everyone who immigrates to this country, whether they are documented or not, is a human being. A detention should never amount to a death sentence. This type of action to ensure humane treatment and prevent unnecessary deaths at these facilities is overdue. Let's not forget that many in immigration detention are there for minor violations, many for administrative errors. At some point, this becomes more than a legal issue - it becomes a human rights issue, and it is our job to do all we can to secure our country while protecting the dignity of all human beings."

Senator Kennedy said: "In the rush to detain tens of thousands of immigrants rounded up in worksite raids or appearing at our borders fleeing persecution or civil strife, we have lost sight of the need to provide those in our custody with even basic medical care and a modicum of decency and compassion. This legislation is a major step toward ensuring that our immigration detention system is governed by sufficient standards of medical care and accountability. It is critical that we establish rigorous standards so that we can restore a sense of humanity in our treatment of detainees that is fitting of our long tradition as a nation of immigrants."

Senator Akaka said, "ICE has the obligation to provide every man, woman, and child taken into immigration custody humane and dignified treatment. Recent news stories have reported egregious failures to provide basic health care to those in ICE's custody. ICE continues to deny the problems, so Congress must act to ensure that immigrant detainees receive the health care they need and to require that ICE disclose deaths of those in their custody."

Senator Lieberman said: "Inferior medical care is one of the most egregious elements of inhumane conditions at immigration detention facilities. Our history as a compassionate nation requires that we meet and maintain far better standards at these facilities."

DETAINEE BASIC MEDICAL CARE ACT OF 2008:

· Requires DHS to establish procedures for the timely and effective delivery of health care.

· Ensures that treatment decisions are based on professional clinical judgments. Currently, the medical decisions of on-site staff can be overruled by off-site officials without further review.

· Ensures continuity of care for persons with serious health conditions. The bill requires access to necessary medications upon detention and during any transfers.

· Requires DHS to report all detainee deaths to the Office of Inspector General and to Congress. DHS is not currently required to keep track of or report detainee deaths. The absence of a reporting requirement leaves Congress and the public in the dark.

In a recent case, a federal judge noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "own records [of a deceased detainee] bespeak of conduct that transcends negligence by miles. It bespeaks of conduct that, if true, should be taught to every law student as conduct for which the moniker 'cruel' is inadequate."

Major hat tip and respect to Speak! Action Alerts from Women of Color for sharing the press release from Menendez's office, and to BrownFemiPower for tirelessly blogging and increasing awareness about human rights abuses at detention centers (BFP is also a user here and has cross-posted some of her health-related blog posts at Cure This.

Here's a wonderful organization fighting for human rights in immigration detention centers: the National Immigrant Justice Center.  Get to know them.

Recent mainstream media press:
New York Times: "Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in Custody", May 5, 2008.
Washington Post: "System of Neglect", May 11, 2008.
New York Times: Better Health Care Sought for Detained Immigrants"

Text of  the  companion bill in the House (previously introduced), cannot yet find the text of the bill in the Senate (introduced yesterday).

Will KCET Drop Unnatural Causes?

by: diannah

Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 10:23:59 AM PDT

I belong to Doculink, an email list of documentarians around the world. And today I happened upon the message below.

I felt it deserved posting.  It reeks of interference where there should be none.

How Edwards advanced the Dems' debate on healthcare

by: los anjalis

Mon Feb 04, 2008 at 00:49:03 AM PST

Most important, the Edwards campaign was a reminder that any true change will not be easy. Some people snickered when he talked of an "epic battle" ahead and declared that he would confront Congress with a declaration of healthcare war ("If you don't pass universal healthcare by July of this year, July of 2009, I will use every power I have to take your healthcare coverage away from you"). Many pundits and politicians wrote off his speeches as too angry.

The more accurate assessment is that Edwards's anger - whether you believed it or not - may have just helped forge a more focused Democratic Party. Why else would Obama and Clinton play nice in the Los Angeles debate?  They got the message that there is much more to lose that is greater than their individual campaigns.

Hopefully this injection of populism and the push towards more accountability to the public's interests will continue past Super Tuesday this week (the day when Americans in over 20 states will vote for a candidate in the Democratic and Republican national primaries).  Hopefully...

the kids are alright (they're going to fix our health system, and I hear they're unstoppable)

by: los anjalis

Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 00:38:26 AM PST

One measure of the troubled state of U.S. health care is the hordes of idealistic young people lining up to fix it...

..."If you offer a seminar or class on health policy or politics, you'll fill it up. We can't meet the demand," said Oberlander, echoing a view heard on campuses across the country.

So VERY exciting.  Seems that much of the interest in health politics and policy is coming from a very personal space and a broader understanding of the importance of health -- domestically and globally:

The growing recognition of the quality gaps also motivates students. "More people within their own families experience the kind of life-altering events that make health hugely salient to them," said Mark Schlesinger, a health expert at Yale.

The surge in interest extends beyond political debate over cost and coverage. Public health programs in epidemiology, global health and environmental health are expanding as rich and poor countries alike face health risks ranging from bird flu and AIDS to bioterror and climate change.

Inspiring, indeed.  We're excited to have some youngins in the ranks of writers at this site too :>